The current challenge at Lawnscaping is “clean and simple”, and I just couldn’t resist playing along in it! I squeezed out some time last night and this morning to make a couple of coordinating cards, using (again! LOL) the current sketch at CAS Colours & Sketches. The only real difference in the two is the colors and the position of the mat behind the focal panel. I’ve made a “boy version” and a “girl version” because I’ll be donating the cards to Send a Smile 4 Kids.

Thanks for stopping by today! Remember, the CC&S sketch challenge is open until 6:00 p.m. Eastern time Wednesday, November 16. We’d love to have you join us there!

Hello! Saturday means it’s time for a new challenge at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown, where we celebrate Christmas all year round. Each week we offer a cardmaking challenge to help you create Christmas or wintry cards so you’ll have a bunch of cards ready to send when the holiday season rolls around. We’re kicking the month off with a sketch challenge.

This month’s sketch was drawn as a portrait-oriented rectangle, but I’ve squashed it down into a landscape-oriented rectangle for my card. I created a little scene on the left panel and used patterned paper for the right panel. The penguins were stamped onto a scrap of white cardstock, colored, fussy cut, and then assembled to the snowy background. I don’t think my camera captured it in the photo, but the cardstock I used for the snowy ground has a hint of shimmer to it.

Now it’s time for you to check out all the challenge details at the 52CCT site, and visit the rest of the design team members’ blogs for more inspiration. Then create your own card and link it at the 52CCT site by 7:00 pm Eastern time Friday, August 12. Thanks for stopping by my blog today!

Hello! It’s time for another sketch challenge at CAS – Colours and Sketches! As always, the sketch can be rotated or flipped – so long as we can see the basic elements of the original sketch, it’s all good!

I’ve stretched the sketch out to a portrait-oriented rectangle for this card. After a lot of thinking of various things I could use for the circular elements, I finally decided on these cute little birdies. I stamped them onto scraps of designer paper, colored in their beaks, and fussy cut them. I positioned them in place on the sky blue background, drew in the birds’ legs and the rightmost bird’s right eye, and then used dimensional adhesive to pop the birds up over the background. Admittedly, it’s not the most imaginative use of dimension, but it’s enough to qualify this card for the current Lawnscaping challenge. The code word for the current challenge at Addicted to CAS is “cute”, and it’s “Clean and Simple” week at Addicted to Stamps, so I’m going to enter into those challenges, too. And it’s a good card to add to my stash for Operation Write Home!

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you’ll join us over at CAS – Colours and Sketches with your own take on this sketch! You have until 7:00 p.m. Eastern time Wednesday, April 15 to link your card at the challenge website.

If you’ve been reading my blog for any length of time, you’ve probably figured out that I seriously love the adorable animal stamps from Lawn Fawn. Each year to commemorate the company’s birthday, they put out a new little celebratory set. As soon as I saw this year’s set, I knew I had to have it – not just for myself, but also for a dear friend of mine. I preordered it from one of my favorite online stores, and waited patiently, and finally received the stamps a few weeks ago – one set for my friend, and one for me.

Then I had the dilemma of when the best time to give my friend her set would be. Her birthday isn’t until September, and I didn’t think I could wait that long. So I did a little calendar math and reasoned that since March and September are six months apart, I’d send it to her for her half-birthday. I thought that a half-birthday gift would be a much more unexpected surprise than a birthday gift, and that just seemed like a really fun thing to do.

So I sent my friend’s set to her recently, tucked inside of the card I’m sharing here today. I used a wash of distress ink on watercolor paper to create some variegated blue paper and then cut it with dies, using the darkest blues for the waves and the lightest blues for the sky. I toyed with the idea of coloring the otter with distress inks too, but I haven’t done any detail painting like that for a while, so I decided to play it safe and color the otter with markers instead. Once he was colored, I fussy cut him so I could place him floating among the waves. The sentiment stamp actually reads “have an otterly great birthday”, but that didn’t seem exactly right for this particular purpose. So I inked it selectively and fit the wording into the space available, using my trusty Stamp-a-ma-jig to line it up neatly. I used OWH Stars & Stamps sketch #184 for the layout of the card. Hopefully I’ve used enough distress ink for the card to count toward the current Lawnscaping challenge, too.

I hope my friend enjoys using this stamp set as much as I enjoyed making this card for her! She’s an “otterrific” lady and I hope she realizes how much our circle of friends loves her. Thanks for stopping by today!

Hello! I have just a quick post tonight to share a card I made combining several online challenges. The current Lawnscaping challenge is to use dots and/or stripes. I’ve used a stripey paper and a dotty paper for that. At Retro Rubber Challenge blog, they are inviting their participants to use older stamps (at least a year old) and to incorporate a tag on their project. The butterfly and the sentiment are from two of my older Lawn Fawn stamp sets. As I was starting to put the tag on the card front, I noticed how much the card was resembling the current sketch at CAS(E) this Sketch! So I thought about what to do for the trio of banner elements, and decided to use these really old snap/rivet things I have. Anyone else remember them? On a card they look like brads, but they attach like eyelets. Yes, I had some fun pounding them with my hammer, LOL. Even though the colors and patterns aren’t my usual thing, I kinda like the way the card came together.

Thanks for stopping by! All comments are read and appreciated… well, except the spam comments – they’re read, but not appreciated. Unless they’re so bizarre that they make me laugh. I can always appreciate a good laugh! LOL

Hello! If you’re a long-time reader of my blog, you probably know that one of my favorite stamp companies is Lawn Fawn. They have all sorts of images that are adorable, and I use them pretty regularly. You also probably realize that I enjoy participating in various card making challenges. There’s a challenge blog called Lawnscaping, which is a huge proponent of Lawn Fawn. And Lawnscaping just happens to be celebrating their 100th challenge! How fun!

To celebrate this event, Lawnscaping’s current challenge theme is Birthday Celebration. I’ve created today’s card using two of my oldest Lawn Fawn stamp sets and one of their dies. I did quite a bit of masking to arrange the dogs so that they look like they are posing for a photo while showing off their party hats. (I am old enough to remember being fascinated by Polaroid photos ejecting from my uncle’s camera and developing magically in front of my eyes!) The hats were stamped onto a scrap of cardstock, colored, fussy cut, and glued into place. Then I drew the little frilly things on top of the hats back in. I used an embossing folder that looks like bubble wrap on the red cardstock strip to tie in with the polka dots on the hats.

So, congratulations to Lawnscaping for reaching this milestone! I’m looking forward to the next 100 challenges (and hopefully more) and will try to be a more active participant! Thanks for stopping by today!

Hello, and welcome to another Monday! Since it’s the third Monday of the month, it’s time for a new challenge at Cards in Envy. For the next couple of weeks we’re getting into a Halloween mood by focusing on a theme of “Any Witch Way You Can”. Cards for this challenge should show a witch, or something that easily depicts a witch (such as a witch’s hat or shoes) – and be an A2 card (4.25″ x 5.5″) and flat enough to fit in an envelope for mailing. Your card can be scary, cute, or anything in between.

I took the cute route with my card. I really don’t have any witch stamps, but I do have a Lawn Fawn Halloween-themed set. The cat wearing a witch hat was my solution for this challenge. I felt that making her appear to be riding the broom helped her look even more like a witch. I colored the cat as close to black as I could without losing the details of her face and still providing contrast with the hat. I pieced the background together using a few designer papers. The stars are cut from the blue paper to show the yellow underneath. I’ve used one of my go-to sketches from the OWH Stars & Stamps blog for the layout, but scooted the image panel toward the center of the card since I decided not to put a sentiment on it.

This card just “might” be a sneak peek of an upcoming Hope You Can Cling To challenge at Splitcoaststampers.com, too! I’m not at liberty yet to reveal just what the details of that challenge could be. You’ll just have to keep checking in at SCS to see. It also fits in with the current Lawnscaping challenge.

Thanks for stopping by today! Now go check out what the rest of the Cards in Envy design team has made. I’m sure they’d love it if you visit their blogs and leave a comment. Then share your own witchy card with us at the CIE site by 7:00 p.m. Eastern time Sunday, November 2. We’d love to have you play along with us!

OK, I admit it – I’m kind of addicted to cute little birdie stamps lately! These seemed perfect for the “Heart Song” Hope You Can Cling To challenge at Splitcoaststampers.com, which asks participants to create a card using music, birds, and/or hearts along with words of encouragement. I’ve turned the current CAS(E) this Sketch! layout on its side to create a landscape scene with the die-cut grass. The color variations in the green and yellow designer papers are subtle, but the papers still let this card qualify as a just-before-time-expires entry for the current Lawnscaping challenge. The birds were stamped onto both the card base and the yellow paper. I colored in the beaks with a marker before fussy cutting the birds and attaching them to the card base. (I wasn’t about to attempt cutting around their tiny little legs!)

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you’ll consider joining in the fun of Hope You Can Cling To and using your cards to brighten the day of cancer patients.

I’ve stretched the sketch out into a 4.25″ x 5.5″ rectangular card. I resisted the urge to use cute birdies for a third week in a row, LOL – but I did stick with a cute image. I’ve combined the sketch challenge with the “Spoonful of Sugar” Hope You Can Cling To challenge at Splitcoaststampers.com, using this ice cream cone for my something sweet. The ice cream cone is paper pieced. Although it’s not the most imaginative use of designer paper, it does fit the theme of the current Lawnscaping challenge. It felt good to use up some scraps!

I hope you’ll join us at CAS – Colours & Sketches for the sketch challenge, which closes at 1:00 p.m. Eastern time Wednesday, October 15. I also hope you’ll consider playing along in Hope You Can Cling To – there will be one challenge presented each day of October, and the deadline for participating is noon Central time Friday, November 7.

Here’s a quick card I made tonight, combining the Lawnscaping challenge that ends in a little bit with the Freshly Made Sketches challenge that started today. I wanted to use this bunny for the Lawnscaping critters challenge, but because of the way he’s facing, I felt it would look better if I used the mirror image of the sketch. And now I have another any occasion, any recipient card for the box I’ll be sending to Operation Write Home soon. Yay!

Thanks for stopping by today! Comments are always read and appreciated very much!

This is just a quick card I made to squeeze into the current Freshly Made Sketches challenge right before it closes. I noticed my Operation Write Home stash is lacking birthday cards suitable to send to kids, and our curious kitten found this little piggy image on my desk, so I put the pig into the sketch and made a birthday card. Yay! This card also works for the current Lawnscaping challenge.

Hello! It’s time for another sketch challenge at CAS – Colours and Sketches! As always, the sketch can be rotated or flipped or stretched – so long as we can see the basic elements of the original sketch, it’s all good!

I’ve stretched the sketch out into a rectangle and, well, you’ll see soon enough the other modifications I made to it while still keeping my card clean and simple in design. I decided to give the current Lawnscaping challenge of watercoloring a try, too. The quote bubble panel features a watercolor wash, and I colored the cow with watercolor pencils softened with a blender pen. I chose the cow simply because of all my animal images, it seemed to fit best with the sketch.

Our curious kitten wanted in on the photo taking action, too:

Thanks for stopping by today! Be sure to check out the CAS – Colours and Sketches blog to see what the rest of the design team has done with this sketch. Then make your own card and link it to the challenge post. You have until 1:00 p.m. Eastern time Wednesday, July 30 to participate. We hope you’ll join us!

Hello there, and happy Saturday to you! It’s time for another theme challenge at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown, and our hostess, Louise, has chosen a fun one – reindeer and/or Rudolph.

I was excited about this challenge because it gave me the opportunity to use this cute Lawn Fawn image again! To be completely honest, I’m not sure if it’s supposed to be just a “regular” deer (such as the white-tailed deer common in most of the United States) or a reindeer, but for the sake of the challenge I’m calling it a reindeer. I stamped it onto two different colors of brown designer paper, fussy cut the parts, and glued the antlers onto the reindeer’s head. I colored in the nose and created hooves. The background for my little reindeer is pieced together from blue designer paper and white cardstock that was painted with white shimmer paint. I originally planned to use OWH Stars & Stamps sketch #43 for the layout of this card, but in mirror image so the reindeer wouldn’t be frolicking off the edge of the card. Since I couldn’t decide on a sentiment to pair with the image that also balanced out the size of the image panel, I opted to go sentiment-less and move the panel toward the center of the card. The panel is attached with dimensional adhesive to give it a little more visual separation from the card base.

Although my card doesn’t have stars, it does have stripes that qualify it for the current Lawnscaping challenge.

Go see what a-deer-able creations the rest of the 52{C}CT design team has made! Then create your own wintery or Christmasy card showcasing Rudolph or any of his other reindeer friends, and share it with us at the 52{C}CT site by 1:00 p.m. Eastern time Friday, June 27. We’d love to have you join us!

Hello! It’s the third Thursday of the month, which means it’s color challenge time again at CAS – Colours and Sketches. I’ve created a birthday card that can be sent to pretty much any person of any age – making it a good choice for Operation Write Home. This card also works for the current Lawnscaping challenge.

Now it’s your turn to create a clean and simple styled card using these colors, and share it with us at the CAS – Colours and Sketches site! You have until 1:00 p.m. Eastern time Wednesday, March 26 to link your card. We hope you’ll join us!

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